The environmental information in the national newspapers from Colombia and Spain: a comparative analysis La información medioambiental en los periódicos nacionales de Colombia y España: un estudio comparativo

Abstract

Background: Environmental communication has been studied in academia and journalism since the 70s, both in Colombia and in Spain, as it coincides with the divulgation of the report ‘Limits to the Growth of Rome’s Club and the Earth Summit in Stockholm in the same year. Since then, this type of journalism has attempted to move towards the quality of information, thanks to academic studies at universities and research centers. Objective: This paper aims to establish comparative equivalences between El Espectador of Colombia and El Pais in Spain, the newspapers chosen for the sample, in order to know the weaknesses and strengths on the environmental content in both newspapers. Method: Content analysis method was used, with a quantitative approach, such that allows to identify the importance, quality, frequency and way of exposure given to the information and opinion related to environment. A weekly basis composed systematic random sample from 2009 and 2010 was utilized, in order to have a broad representation of these environmental contents published on each of the months of those two years. Results: Similarities and important differences in the two media are shown. The similarities relate to the use of news as the main journalistic genre, the non-presence of sensationalism in the pieces of news, poor identification of those responsible for the lack of environmental consciousness and dependence on government sources. Conclusion: In both cases, it is necessary that directors and journalists adopt a more critical and committed role for the readers to have quality information that motivates them to adopt environmentally sustainable life styles.